The Morning After: OVC First Round

Seeds held, but that’s what seeds are supposed to do, right? But the lower seeds didn’t go down without a fight, as the OVC Tournament got off to a modest start in Nashville.

Last Night’s Scores

[8] UT Martin 66, [5] Morehead State 73

Recap | Myles Taylor was out for the Skyhawks, and his presence was missed on the inside. Morehead State doubles up the Skyhawks on the boards, but struggle to pull away from a shorthaded UT Martin

[7] Eastern Illinois 68, [6] Southeast Missouri 78

Recap | The Redhawks only need eight threes, thanks to 24 points from Tyler Stone, and 12 assists from Lucas Nutt. Eastern Illinois digs and early hole, and can’t make enough stops to get back into it.

Three Point Shot

You don’t have to switch on screens, but if you’re EKU you have to do a better job today keeping SEMO from getting open looks off of them. Eastern Illinois was behind the ball handler on screens an all night, giving Nutt plenty of time to find an open man on the inside, or for a SEMO shooter to take a three. The biggest reason the Redhawks 3-point total wasn’t worse is that Stone dominated on the inside.

That being said, Eastern Illinois is by far the most improved team of the season. It’s not even close. Had they been against either UTM or Morehead State, I think they might still be in the tournament. Ran into a hot and confident SEMO team.

Morehead State is 2-0 against Tennessee State, but 3-point underdogs according to Vegas. They say winning three in one season is hard.

Player of the Night: Tyler Stone, Southeast Missouri. This is what we expected Stone to do the OVC this year. 24 points in 24 minutes off the bench. An amazing decision by Dickie Nutt to make the change, and great of Stone to accept and embrace his new role. It’s often hard for starters to take when they’re taken out of the starting linuep

Player of the Night in a loss: Mike Liabo, UT Martin. I love players that play with emotion, and Liabo is one of those guys, for better or worse. It was a lot of “better” last night, as the guard stepped up in Taylor’s absence, scoring a team-high 24 points.

Unsung Hero: Lucas Nutt, SEMO. 12 assists is phenomenal. He’s often underrated because he doesn’t score, but the way he helps his team is noticed.